Title (fr)

Publication

Application

Priority

US 9820572 W 19980930

US 95613697 A 19971022

Abstract (en)

[origin: US5886570A] An inverter circuit, suitably implemented in the feedback loop of a series pass regulator, limits the maximum drive current through an output drive transistor connected to control the regulator's pass transistor. A first current source i1 biases an inverting amplifier that includes a transistor and an output resistor R, which inverts an input signal received from an emitter follower and feeds the inverted signal to an output drive transistor which has its collector connected to the base of the pass transistor. A second current source i2 is connected to allow the inverter's input signal to follow the emitter follower negative. When the follower is cut-off, i2 flows through the output resistor and increases the voltage of the signal fed to the output drive transistor by i2xR. The increased voltage establishes a maximum drive current based on i1, i2 and R, which is independent of the betas of the individual transistors.